falling slowly

Summary:

Notes:

Written as part of genprompt_bingo. Box: Surreality

Spoiler Warning (a bit) for: Keeper of Traken/Logopolis

A crested avar is a bird mentioned to have been native to Traken. (audio: Primeval)

Work Text:

Nyssa was falling. With every second she could feel her body plummeting downward like a meteor in a shower of falling stars. As she fell, a sensation of bright whiteness encapsulated her view. She could feel her feet hit the ground as her new surroundings came into view.

Bright white
roundel-embossed walls
That familiar central column
A burst of chaotic voices echoing around her

“-----all your fault! “
“How is it my fault?!”
“If you would stop worrying about checking your equations for just one minute…’
“Could you both please stop?”
Nyssa wanted to intervene, but something was wrong. As she moved closer towards the sounds of the ensuing row, she felt it again. She was falling again; this time slower. As she fell, the atmosphere around her began to shift.

A soothing scent wafting in the air
A crested avar calling overhead
The groves where she’d spent many hours as a girl
The shadow of a man she had seen too often in her dreams
Lost forever but now standing so close

“Nyssa,” he called as she ran to embrace him, his voice full of the warmth she had missed “Welcome home, daughter.”

A warm embrace
A chill down her spine
Pressure on her neck
A black-gloved hand
Squeezing
The life out of her

“No!” she gasped, as best she could; an all-too familiar laugh filling her ears. Her eyes began to close and a deep blackness began to slowly engulf her when she heard it.

“Nyssa?...Nyssa, can you hear me?”
It was soft at first, like a whisper. As it gradually grew louder, Nyssa opened her eyes to see lilac sand beneath her and the Doctor standing over her, his coat wrapped around her as a makeshift blanket.
“Mmmm...Doctor” she started, her eyes adjusting to the light, “What-----where…”
He gestured for her to be quiet. “You’ve been unconscious for several hours. “
It all came flooding back in that instant.

Their arrival earlier that morning
Giant creatures like humanoid crocodiles
Tried to steal the TARDIS
The sting of a hypodermic needle
Piercing her hand
Because she refused to help them find it

“Now I suggest” said the Doctor, looking up at the bevy of black clouds forming “ we try to find some shelter. Those clouds look particularly ominous.” As they walked, Nyssa pondered all that she had just experienced.

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This is great! Really nicely written, I love the staccato, punctuation-lite weirdness of the ‘poetry’ sections, it adds to the surreal feel (hey, that rhymes!) of the story. Now I want to know more about the crocodile monsters and how our dynamic duo will escape from them/defeat them.... make it so! :)